Hillary Clinton testified behind closed doors before a House congressional committee, asserting she "had no idea" about Jeffrey Epstein's criminal activities.
Clinton spent six hours answering questions from the House Oversight Committee and expressed disappointment that her testimony was not made public. She praised Chairman James Comer for raising critical questions during the session and emphasized her desire for transparency.
The Clintons initially resisted a subpoena, dismissing it as politically motivated, but ultimately agreed to testify amid looming potential contempt-of-Congress proceedings. Both Hillary and Bill Clinton deny any wrongdoing related to Epstein.
Bill Clinton stated he had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and cut ties with him over two decades ago, citing their contact was solely related to charity work after his presidency. He has expressed regret over their association.
In her statement released ahead of the hearing, Hillary Clinton reiterated, "I had no idea about their criminal activities," and clarified she never encountered Epstein or his associates, nor flew on his plane or visited his properties.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer told reporters before the deposition began that he planned to release the video and the transcript of the interview after approval.
"The purpose of the whole investigation is to try to understand many things about Epstein," he said afterwards, adding: "There were a lot of questions that we asked that we weren't satisfied with the answers that we that we got."
The depositions are extraordinary both in that they are compelling a former president to testify before a congressional committee and because congressional investigators also have the support of Democrats who have called for transparency.
The inquiry comes months after the Clintons refused to testify but relented when lawmakers moved to hold them in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena issued in August.
But on Thursday, Hillary Clinton used her forced appearance to go on the offensive and demand President Donald Trump testify about his own links to the sex offender.
